GREENFIELD — The defending Hancock County champions haven’t been perfect this season, but the Greenfield-Central girls golf team isn’t complaining either.
With four nine-hole matchup victories out of five this season and an 18-hole tournament win at the New Palestine Invitational 10 days ago, the results continue to reflect the Cougars’ potential.
And, the team still hasn’t put it all together — at least not yet.
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“We’re doing well. We were second by a couple at Greensburg (on Aug. 8) and we won the New Pal Invite, so we’re having a pretty good season,” Cougars head coach Russ Wiley said. “I still don’t know if we’ve hit our stride yet, but I’m not disappointed by where we are.”
A year ago, the Cougars dethroned New Palestine during the Hancock County Golf Tournament by shooting a combined 175 led by Tandess O’Neal’s career-best score of 39.
Mt. Vernon was second as a team at 189, while New Palestine was third with a 192 after enjoying a five-year stranglehold on the title.
Greenfield-Central matched its winning score of 175 once already this year during a three-way match against New Palestine (201) and Franklin Central on Aug. 24.
Oddly enough, the performance unfolded on the same course where the nine-hole county tournament will tee-off today at 4:30 p.m.
For good measure, the Cougars squeezed in a shortened practice on their home course of Hawk’s Tail in Greenfield on Monday with hopes of a repeat both on their final scorecards and in the county team standings.
“We kept it kind of light, not to get anybody too tired out or anything,” Wiley said. “They’re feeling ready to go. It’s exciting. They’re definitely looking forward to playing and getting out there trying to back up what they did last year. To me it’s exciting. You know people are kind of gunning for you, and we haven’t always been in that role for a while, so it’s fun.”
Most days have been for the Cougars in 2020.
Greenfield-Central opened their season Aug. 6 with a 184 to best Columbus East and Whiteland on the road and later bested Rushville and Triton Central, once again, away on Aug. 10 with a 184.
During their first home match on Aug. 17, the Cougars fired a 182 to win over Beech Grove, then they took first with an 18-hole score of 351 during the New Palestine Invite at Hawk’s Tail.
At the Greensburg Invitational on Aug. 8, Greenfield-Central narrowly missed out on its first 18-hole victory, taking second with a 363 while the hosts won with a 359.
The Cougars’ lone nine-hole loss this season was at Harbour Trees Golf & Beach Club in Noblesville against the host Millers 186-168 last Thursday.
Senior Caroline Gibson, who qualified for state last year and tied for 30th at Prairie View Golf Club with a two-round score of 166 (22-over par), is projected to vie for medalist honors at county today.
She shot a 40, along with Haley Hoagland, against Columbus East and Whiteland during the opener. She led the Cougars with an 80 over 18 holes at Greensburg and fired a 1-under par 35 against Rushville and Triton Central.
Gibson posted a 72 as Greenfield-Central took ninth overall at the Lapel Invitational on Aug. 15, and she led the group with a 77 during the New Palestine Invite.
She posted a pair of 39s when she faced Beech Grove and against New Palestine and Franklin Central at Hawk’s Tail.
“Caroline has been playing excellent golf. She’s had a couple of matches where she’s been under par or right at par. Everybody else has stepped up a little bit here and there. I think everybody would say they’ve had some up-and-down matches this year for the most part,” Wiley said.
“Everybody has played well at some point this season, but we still haven’t all played well at the same time yet. Hopefully, that will happen at some point, or at least three out of four or something close to it.”
The Cougars could be at full strength at county for the first time since the start of the season with junior Katie Curry returning from injury. She is expected to slide back into the lineup with the senior trio of Gibson, O’Neal and Hoagland.
The Cougars will need to be sharp with the other county team’s ready to challenge.
Eastern Hancock is led by senior Haleigh Cavaletto, who tied the school record with a nine-hole score of 40 en route to a 228-246 win over Wes-Del last week.
She also set a school record with a 92 during the 18-hole Mid-Eastern Conference tournament this past weekend. The Royals finished seventh overall with a 475, while Cavaletto was second individually.
“She has really stepped her game up the past few weeks. She’s looking more at the course ahead of time and coming in with a plan of attack,” EH head coach Dustin Eck said. “As a team, we know what we are up against and are really trying to focus on continuing to make improvements individually with each round.”
Mt. Vernon opened the year with a 184-194 win over Pendleton Heights at Arrowhead. They later fired a 178 last month to beat Lawrence Central and Beech Grove with the team’s top-two in Alaina Nugent and Meredith Johnson carding 40s.
Nugent shot a 38 in a rematch with Shelbyville at Arrowhead as the team finished with a 175. The Marauders followed up with a 176 against Shenandoah and Delta on Aug. 19 with Nugent posting a season-best 34.
“I love it when there’s that good competition,” Wiley said. “(Mt. Vernon’s) top two played really well at county last year. And, they obviously know the course. They’ve played it probably as much as anybody over the years.”
Johnson is coming off a 40 against Alexandria during a 186-191 win on Aug. 24.
The New Palestine Dragons are just as capable of playing spoiler with seniors Megan Diller and Abby Belgin routinely atop the leaderboard.
Against Greenfield-Central, the Diller shot a 45 and Belgin had a 50 at Hawk’s Tail during the team’s three-way match with Franklin Central. Diller carded a 91 at the New Palestine Invitational.
“I always enjoy this match a lot. That’s kind of the fun of county. When there’s only nine holes, you can have a good three or four holes and end up shooting way better than those 18-holers. When it’s just nine holes, anything can happen,” Wiley said.
